To My Dear Mr. Huo

Su Qingsang got very close to him but couldn’t hear what he was saying. She moved closer to him. Still, nothing.

It sounded like he was asking a question. Su Qingsang tried to hear him more clearly, but he finally fell asleep.

She took a shower and then lay down by his side. He didn’t say anything after that, not even while sleeping.

Su Qingsang lay by his side and leaned against him gently. His body wasn’t as cold as before.

His body temperature was still lower than usual, though. Su Qingsang couldn’t help but put her arms around him.

He wasn’t wearing any clothes at all, but she wasn’t aroused by his nakedness.

All she had in her mind at that moment was his tears which had flown into her heart, and the way his arms had trembled when he held her.

She raised her head and looked at him. He looked paler than before. She could tell that he wasn’t sleeping well.

She felt his heart aching for him. She didn’t know what had happened. At last, she held him tighter to try to give him some strength and comfort.

In the middle of the night, the heat woke Su Qingsang up.

She felt extremely uncomfortable, so she lifted the blanket. But then, she realized that what made her feel uncomfortable wasn’t the blanket. It was Huo Jinyao.

His skin was burning hot. That abnormally high body temperature of his alerted Su Qingsang woke her up almost immediately.

“Jinyao?”

She gently pushed him. He didn’t respond to her. His forehead was even hotter than the rest of his body.

He was breathing heavily. Su Qingsang quickly got up from the bed. The cold shower must have made him develop a fever.

She went to the living room in a haste for the medical kit. She found the medicine for fever and planned to give some to Huo Jinyao. However, Huo Jinyao refused to take the pills. She couldn’t make him swallow them.

At last, she forced the pills into his mouth and poured some water into her own mouth. Then, she gave him the water mouth to mouth.

She had no time to worry about Huo Jinyao infecting her. Huo Jinyao’s body temperature still stayed high for a while after he took the pills.

As a doctor, Su Qingsang knew what to do. She brought some water and a wet cloth to place on his forehead and physically cool him down.

It took Su Qingsang over an hour to bring Huo Jinyao’s fever down.

She was exhausted when that was done. She lay back down on the bed, but couldn’t sleep again.

She looked at Huo Jinyao. She was sure that something very terrible must have happened to him. She just couldn’t figure out what it was, though.

She was tired, as she had been taking care of Huo Jinyao all night. After spending a while staring at Huo Jinyao, she fell asleep again.

Su Qingsang didn’t know that a person who was usually never ill could be difficult to heal when he became ill.

She had given Huo Jinyao some pills last night, but in the morning she woke up to find that he was having a fever again.

It was even worse than last night.

She hurriedly found more pills and gave them to Huo Jinyao, then placed the wet cloth on his forehead again.

That didn’t work. Huo Jinyao’s fever was extremely high. He even started murmuring in his sleep.

“Huo Jinyao? Huo Jinyao?”

Su Qingsang called his name, but he didn’t respond to her at all.

Su Qingsang couldn’t leave him at home like that and go to work, so she called Sun Huiya and asked for a day off.

She sounded very anxious, so Sun Huiya didn’t ask her any questions and immediately granted her the leave. After ending the call, Su Qingsang looked at Huo Jinyao, thinking about what to do.

She had to give him glucose drips, as his fever kept going up.

“Huo Jinyao?” Su Qingsang leaned closer to him and whispered, “get up, let’s go to the hospital, okay?”

Huo Jinyao didn’t respond to her. Su Qingsang tried to help him up, but she couldn’t do that alone.

She felt that calling an ambulance wouldn’t be necessary. She thought for a moment and then decided to make a trip to the hospital.

She covered Huo Jinyao with the blanket and said, “I’m going to the hospital to get you some medicine. I’ll be home soon. Wait for me.”

She said that to him even though she knew that he couldn’t hear her. After that, she left for the hospital in a hurry.

As a doctor, she was able to get the medicines easily.

She prepared the glucose drips as quickly as she could, and hung the infusion bottle on the headboard.

Huo Jinyao still didn’t wake up. He had his brows knitted, and looked like he was in pain.

Su Qingsang stood up. She prepared to go to the kitchen to make some porridge so that Huo Jinyao could have some when he woke up. Before she left, Huo Jinyao’s phone which was left on the nightstand started ringing.

It was Yang Wenchang.

Su Qingsang spent a few seconds looking at the number on the phone screen. She answered the call at last.

“President Huo…”

“Su Qingsang speaking.” Su Qingsang looked at Huo Jinyao who was still lying on the bed unconscious. She said, “Huo Jinyao is sick. I don’t think he can go to work today. I’m afraid you have to do the work yourself.”

“President Huo is sick?”

“Yes.” After answering the question, Su Qingsang paused for a second and asked, “Mr. Yang, may I ask you about something? Did something bad happen to Huo Jinyao in the past few days?”

Huo Jinyao’s behavior yesterday had been way too abnormal. Su Qingsang refused to believe that usual office work could turn Huo Jinyao’s behavior so drastically.

“Um…”

Yang Wenchang wasn’t sure if he could tell Su Qingsang about what had happened. He struggled.

“Mr. Yang.” Su Qingsang’s voice grew cold. “I am Huo Jinyao’s wife. I don’t know about his business, and I’m not sure if I’ll able to help him. But I think that I still have the right to know why he has become like this, right?”

“Mrs. Huo, I’ll be there in a while.”

“Alright, I’ll wait.”

Su Qingsang ended the call, put her phone aside, and landed her eyes on Huo Jinyao’s face.

His face was slightly red. His breath was heavy and uneven. Sitting by the bedside, she held his hand and then put his hand on her cheek.

“Huo Jinyao, wake up.”

Then, she put down her hand and went to the kitchen to make Huo Jinyao some porridge.

…

Yang Wenchang arrived soon after Su Qingsang put the rice and water into the electric cooker and set the time.

He brought some food and medicine. However, seeing the infusion needle on Huo Jinyao’s arm, he realized that what he brought was probably unnecessary.

“I forgot that you’re a doctor, Mrs. Huo.”

Su Qingsang shook her head, took the bags from his hands, and said, “thank you, for caring about Jinyao.”

“You’re welcome. It’s my job.”

While speaking, he glanced at Huo Jinyao. “When did he get sick?”

“Last night.” Su Qingsang remembered the way Huo Jinyao had been when she arrived home. “He was showering in cold water when I got back. A cold shower under such weather can surely make someone sick.”

Huo Jinyao had been very strong and healthy before this. The sudden illness might have something to do with what had been bothering him.

“What on earth has happened to him? Did anything happen at Tianyu Group?”

Su Qingsang looked at Yang Wenchang with a pair of sharp eyes.

Yang Wenchang rubbed his nose. He honestly didn’t know how to answer Su Qingsang’s questions. “Um, Mrs. Huo, do you know why President Huo has a bad relationship with his mother?”

“No.” Su Qingsang was surprised to hear Yang Wenchang mention Liu Tongjia. She suddenly recalled what Old Master Huo had said that day, about Liu Tongjia. However, he hadn’t finished the story, so she didn’t know all the facts. “Is this because of his mother?”

Yang Wenchang nodded. “Actually, President Huo’s mother is the reason why he’s so sad.”

Since the day he had started working for Tianyu Group, Yang Wenchang knew that Huo Jinyao and his mother were in a dysfunctional relationship.

Still, he couldn’t believe that Huo Jinyao’s relationship with his mother was so bad that she hated him.

She didn’t only work with some outsiders to cause huge damage to the company and make it Huo Jinyao’s fault but also tried to bring him down from the president’s chair and get him replaced.

Yang Wenchang couldn’t give Su Qingsang all the details, but he told her about how Qiao Hong had stolen the data and why.

“Are you saying that Huo Jinyao’s mother hired someone to steal confidential data from the company?”

Liu Tongjia didn’t want to cause damage to Tianyu Group. All she wanted was to knock Huo Jinyao down from the presidential position.

“Is she out of her mind? Why did she do that?” Su Qingsang was shocked. She could not understand why Liu Tongjia had done something like that.

“I have no idea.” Yang Wenchang shook his head and said, “President Huo never mentioned that to me.”

Su Qingsang turned to Huo Jinyao. She looked at his sick face and bit her lower lip hard.

“Thank you for coming here to visit him. I’ll take care of him from now.”

“You’re welcome. This is what I’m supposed to do.” Yang Wenchang waved a hand and said, “Mrs. Huo, please let me know if you need any help. The company is not far away from here. I can be here whenever you need me to.”

“Okay.”

Su Qingsang nodded, accepting his kindness. After Yang Wenchang left, Ms. Yu came. Knowing that Huo Jinyao was sick, she tried not to make any noise while doing the housework.

Su Qingsang didn’t have an appetite to eat. She had some light snacks and then returned to the bedroom.

Huo Jinyao was still sleeping, showing no sign of waking up. She looked at him, feeling sorry for him.

She understood him, and his pain.

She had suffered the same pain when she learned that she was an illegitimate child, that she had been switched with Su Peizhen by Su Chenghui when she was a baby.

Betrayal by family members hurt more than anything else.

Huo Jinyao started murmuring again. Su Qingsang heard that again and leaned toward him. She still couldn’t hear what he said clearly. His voice was very muffled and soft.

For a long time, she stayed by Huo Jinyao’s side. When he started mumbling the second time, she finally heard him saying ‘Mom’. She believed that that was what she heard.

She gave a slight jerk and landed her eyes on Huo Jinyao’s face. Once again, she felt as if her heart was being pierced by a needle.

She always knew that Huo Jinyao had a bad relationship with his mother, but never expected that he would call his mother when he was sick, like other boys.

She remembered Huo Jinyao encouraging her over and over again before she made up her mind to be Li Qianxue’s daughter again.

She didn’t know why back then, but now she did. In Huo Jinyao’s heart, there must be a special place for his mother.

She couldn’t help but pick up Huo Jinyao’s phone immediately. Then, she called Liu Tongjia.